Suddenly I'm allergic to bee stings.

[euromobile900]

Quite a scary thing happened to me the other day.

I was out doing fish ecology fieldwork, and a co-worker stepped on a ground-wasps' nest. I foolishly helped him brush the bees off of his shirt. I got stung on my right hand at around noon.

Now, I've been stung many times before. Each time I get a slightly worse reaction, but nothing to write home about. However, this time I had a scary systemic reaction, which I luckily was able to ward off with Benadryl. By 3:00pm, my hand had swollen up. By 5, it had traveled down my arm. By 9, it was halfway to my elbow. When I woke up the next morning I was in so much pain I went to the local Urgent Care.



Now I'm on 50mg of Prednisone and I feel super (seriously, steroids make me not care about working outside in 97-degree heat, which is nice for a change). The swelling's gone down some (not quite all the way yet) and if I didn't mention already, I am on steroids so I can do anything.

Doctor said that I wouldn't need an epi pen next time, but probably would the time after that. Made me feel so self-assured.

[nordwulf]

Ouch! One of those threads where it would be inappropriate to click Like!

I had a bees nest at my house once and those little bastards were vicious. When you would come too close, they would come out and actually attack you. I really don't like insects..

[Hirsch]

That sucks! Hope you feel better! Bees, wasps, I hate them. The first time I used the F-word in front of my dad, at age 15, was when a wasp stung me while we were working on the lawnmower.

When I was about 20 I was working for a temp service and they sent me out to lump(unload by hand) a semi(lorry) of unpopped popcorn. It was in 50lb bags made some rough, man made burlap type material and it raised a rash on my inner forearms and I couldn't wear a watch until the rash healed. When the rash healed I went back to wearing my Timex Ironman watch. Within a few hours I had a rash on the inside of my wrist. I had to stop wearing a watch and basically all non-pure metals caused a rash anywhere on my body. I had developed an allergy to nickel.

When I was 27 my wife(then fiance) bought me a stainless steel Seiko watch that I still wear everyday. My wedding band is 18k gold. my glasses frames are stainless steel and I wear a silver necklace. The biggest problem was finding a nickel free belt buckle. I tried everything, the only thing that worked, temporarily, was many coats of clear nail polish. But it would wear off after two days.

But a few days ago I found a website called no-nickel.com and ordered a titanium belt buckle. I got it today and so far, so good. No belly rash!

[SaabKen]

Sorry to hear that, EM900. Bad reactions to things can be worse as an adult than as a kid.

Last summer the fam & I were vacationing on Vanc. Island, at my cousin's timeshare. I somehow became allergic to something in the indoor pool or hot tub (it's a very respectable resort, so it wasn't like there were riff-raffs dipping their gangrened feet in there). The same night I developed a rash over 1/2 my body that itched to death. Had to find a late-night pharmacy (not easy in a small town of 10,000) to get Benadryl. And only by next afternoon did the rash begin to subside. But I had to take one pill every 24 hrs since then to get ahead of the rash, otherwise it'd creep back. This lasted until Christmas before the rash disappeared entirely.

Strangely, when I think back on that rash thing, I indirectly associate it with SaabWorld (no offense, Wulf) because I remember being on that hotel's computer logging on to the then brand-new SW forum

[Shazam]

I helped keep honey bees one summer, one of the hives was very aggressive so I've had my share of stings. No problems yet, my mom is very allergic so I would get nervous with a sting.

Sorry about the bad luck, ground wasps are the worsts. You never know they are there until it's too late. Good luck to you!

[tunnanxwd]

One of the things to be aware of on the Prednisone is that it can make you very aggressive. With me it almost acts like a "truth serum" and I never had a lot of "tact and social graces" but then that was not exactly in my job spec anyway.

I told my partner, it he sensed that I was being a bit rough with a guy ... just tap my shoulder ... a reminder that it was the drug. Normally I was pretty fair and listened and polite even with some of the nasty guys but all of a sudden ..... Watch for the f'ing (sorry Ken), rattle snakes in that area. They are there, mostly on the ridges but the heat may drive them down this week. That area is loaded with Diamondbacks and Copperheads.

You have to be doing some Walleye fishing? Tiger Muskie? .... one of my claims to fame were two 31" on 2 pound test. It was more like a chess match than a fish fight.

[Saabhat93]

I've never been stung by a bee so I can't imagine what that's like. Must be really scary waking up and seeing your arm balloon up like that.

But the steroid part.. I just imagine you walking around, picking things up, yelling then throwing them in the style of Hulk.

Feel better, man.

[euromobile900]

Thanks, all, for the well-wishes, everybody. I'm doing much better! I can nearly see the veins and tendons in my right hand and arm again, and I've regained 98% of functionality. One silver lining is that I had to learn to do things with my left hand, so now I feel much more dexterous.

When I was about 20 I was working for a temp service and they sent me out to lump(unload by hand) a semi(lorry) of unpopped popcorn. It was in 50lb bags made some rough, man made burlap type material and it raised a rash on my inner forearms and I couldn't wear a watch until the rash healed. When the rash healed I went back to wearing my Timex Ironman watch. Within a few hours I had a rash on the inside of my wrist. I had to stop wearing a watch and basically all non-pure metals caused a rash anywhere on my body. I had developed an allergy to nickel.

Wow. I have a sort of reaction to some metal, but I don't know what it is. Had some glasses that wore through their plating and started to corrode and irritate my skin, but I've worn stainless and titanium glasses since then. But Hirsch, don't your stainless glasses contain nickel? I guess some stainless does and some doesn't. What do you do for silverware?

One of the things to be aware of on the Prednisone is that it can make you very aggressive. With me it almost acts like a "truth serum" and I never had a lot of "tact and social graces" but then that was not exactly in my job spec anyway.

I think I need some aggression. I do sense that I'm being a bit less patient, maybe more confident as well. I should go to a bar and try to pick up chicks. Another thing that's changed is that I now love to overwork myself. I think my co-workers on the fish ecology crew caught on and started having me do more jobs. No hulk-like strength, but a lot more willingness to use what I've got. I also eat about half again as much as I did. Glad it is only for 4 days!!

That area is loaded with Diamondbacks and Copperheads...You have to be doing some Walleye fishing? Tiger Muskie? .... one of my claims to fame were two 31" on 2 pound test. It was more like a chess match than a fish fight.

I saw a black rat snake the other day, but no poisonous ones...yet. There was one in the basement when I moved in, but my housemate relocated it with a rake and managed not to kill it or get killed by it. As for the fishing, I'm doing electrofishing surveys in streams. Found some enormous brown, rainbow, and brook trout in some of the larger holes, especially in Van Campen's Brook on the Jersey side of the Delaware. The advantage is that I can then go back to specific sites and fish with the normal (legal) techniques on my own time, knowing full well where the fish like to hang out. Because I'm studying the native brookies, I don't eat 'em. They're harder to catch anyway--but I just fried up a good (invasive) brown this evening! Hmm, you've got me remembering how I love walleye...would probably need a new rig for that. Possibly also a boat.

[Hirsch]

I've never had a problem with my glasses causing a rash.

As for silverware, the irritation only happens after long-term contact, but all of our silverware, everyday stuff and the weddding silverware is all stainless.

[SaabKen]

I'm allergic to MSG sometimes.